Transl.: Original Intent
witzel at HUSC3.HARVARD.EDU
witzel at HUSC3.HARVARD.EDU
Fri Dec 29 20:11:25 UTC 1995
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re: W.O`Flaherty/Doniger`s RV, JB, Manu translations:
TRANSLATABILITY and ORIGINAL INTENT.
Finally, since there have been no takers, I revert to the (initially,
some weeks ago) proposed discussion of the problem of
`intranslatability` of words such as dharma/rta, hari/niila etc. This
was at the bottom of some of the comments though the problem has not been
addressed as such. In her Manu, for example, D. (as she says, insisted
upon by her collaborator B.K. Smith) translates dharma by a variety of
words, from duty, and religion, to merit and manner), but she
consistently translates brahmana as `priest` and ksatriya as `ruler`.
This reopens up an old question that has been discussed since the 1850`s
by Roth/Boethlingk, Bergaigne and in this century especially by Geldner,
Lueders/Thieme and K. Hoffmann: should we translate a Skt. word with a
variety of Engl. (etc.) words or just by one word which comes closest to
the meaning of the Skt. word?
For example, a brahmana is not always a priest nor a ksatriya always a
ruler... and hari is, e.g. the color of leaves in the spring when first
budding (yellowish-greenish-brownish). There is no single Engl. (etc.)
word for this.
The problem is well known (Jpn. aoi `dark green/blue`: such as traffic
lights... or Hjelmslef on Danish `grey/black`). How more difficult to
pin down concepts such as Skt. dharma or Vedic rta... (more in the
forthc. HOS volume on translation).
Color designations illuminate the case and allow for an easier approach.
One could measure the frequency of the light reflected from aoi- or
hari-colored objects and say, with precision, that this color is in the
range of so and so many cycles (Hz) and therefore corresponds to engl. x
or y. Yet, a translator into Engl. has to decide whether a traffic light
is blue or green... This already provides an idea of how much cultural
information (realia) goes into each translation (note: the last straw
case!) and this is, other than frequently neglected in Skt. classes, a
large part of our job.
Dharma or rta are not so easy. Just as in case of hari, we have to
investigate the (all!) contexts, in other words, we have to get a very
good idea of the field of meaning (noematic aggregates) that the word
encompasses. If possible we choose the English word that completely or
almost completely overlaps with the noematic aggregates expressed by the
Skt. word. That this is not always possible is known to any translator
and that is precisely why I chose the pi = 3.14159165... example (when I
last looked and not 3.15... as printed on the net), and I did so not out
of an `over-zealous concern for scientific precision`. For, philology,
properly understood, tries to approach, with *increasing precision* over
the decades (setbacks, such as the one criticized here, negclected), the
correct representation, as far as possible (or necessary) in the context.
But we also know that - for a variety of reasons - that this can only
partially, if largely, be achieved. This exercise, too, is a dialectic
process, and it is in constant development.
In her Manu translation D. has chosen Paul Thieme`s approach (without
mentioning the century old discussion after Bergaigne) of selecting the
word that comes closest to the meaning of the Skt. one. But her choice
has not always been correct or felicitous (brahmana, ksatriya, or pala
`straw` for a weight of 1.33 ounces/ 37.76 grams, etc.) On the other
hand, dharma has received a host of translations, listed in the index.
Yet, a reader of the Engl. text of Manu will never know that `Manu` is
speaking about dharma. One has to reconstruct this when reading the book,
by discovering the Engl. word `duty` (etc.) under `dharma` in the
index... It would have be better to translate idiomatically but also to
add dharma each time in parentheses.
ORIGINAL INTENT
Which brings us to the meaning of the text as such. Above, I have used
the term `original intent`. This is a category that has been guiding
translators since Sanskrit became better known in the west. It may be
that 19th cent. scholars imposed many of their own categories on the
texts (as do we, inadvertently) but even they were eager to find out the
*original* meaning of a word, (AND its development), or of a text. *That*
is why they did not blindly accept the interpretation of medieval Indian
commentators of the Vedas who are almost as distant from the Vedic texts
as the academic Vedic specialists then and now.
In sum, though much has been said in defense of the three translations
criticized earlier, -- they remain grammatically incorrect. Therefore
they do not represent the function (the noematic aggregates) of the
grammatical category in question, they cannot represent the `meaning` of
that category, -- and consequently, they do not convey what the original
text represented to its listeners (later: readers). The *original intent*
of the text is not captured.
(Note that I am not talking of the later, Epic, classical, medieval etc.,
perception of these texts or of the history of their understanding, -- a
legitimate undertaking, but one different from the aims of the three
translations criticized).
Therefore, with regard both to `grammatically correct` translation, the
translation of `difficult words` and of original intent, I still stand
uncorrected and remain unconvinced.
ity alam!
M.W.
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durjanasya ca sarpasya varam sarpo na durjanah |
sarpo dazati kaalena durjanas tu pade-pade ||
=============================================================================
Michael Witzel Department of Sanskrit
Wales Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Studies
Chair, Committee on South Asian Studies 53 Church Street
Harvard University Cambridge MA 02138, USA
phones: - 1- 617 - 495 3295 (messages) Electronic Journal of
496 8570 Vedic Studies
fax: 4968571 EJVS-list at shore.net
email: witzel at husc3.harvard.edu (or: WWW: http://
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or:
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